The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Book Read Discussion 11/8/12
Analysis
Discussion reflects on the struggle of Rachel to define herself as others see her – she has had a
more European view of herself as she lived with her mom overseas. In the book, she is trying to
figure out what it means to be African-American versus white. People tell her and she defines
the social roles and expectations. She wants to be just “me” without the roles and
expectations. Yet even her boyfriend, Jesse, defines her as his “black girlfriend.” Her coming of
age struggle to develop her own identity is complicated by the “borders” of racial roles.
Nella’s struggle relates to her children be defined by race in limiting ways, leading to her tragic
decision. This story relates to Toni Morrison’s book – Beloved. She realizes that she can’t keep
her children safe, that she couldn’t even recognize herself when they were in danger. Because
of racism, they couldn’t be safe and she decides she must keep them with her in death to save
them from the pain and damage.
Recommendations
One important learning for us is the importance of helping students crossing borders, including
undocumented immigrants, to help them when they are afraid, to welcome them, spend some
time to relate and help them step by step to figure out the process of getting started to take
classes. Jayne gives an example of how she helped a student go through the steps of contacting
workforce, figuring out the classes to take, and helping them get enrolled.
Identity is complex, so we sometimes need to ask the right questions, take time to get to know
more of their story to help them get the help needed to negotiate our system and get their
needs met.
Take the time to listen, and actually walk the students from one place to another. Make those
individual connections to help students get resources and feel safe. We all need support
systems and we need to build trusting relationships with students to help them succeed in a
world that often provides many challenging borders and barriers.
Students need a place that feels like home to them, especially important for students who are
immigrants. They often feel lonely. There is culture shock, a feeling of being a minority that is
new. Students in this experience always remember the names and appreciate the relationships
with those who helped them get started and negotiate the systems.
The border for immigrants is as “American” but there is also the extra layer of racial/ethnic
bias.
Creating a home – have a club or affinity group for students to feel at home and have others
they can relate to. Student expresses how hard is to be the only one, such as being the only
African international student, when most others are Asian. Not separate by country, but a
support group for international and immigrant students. Time being here is a key factor.
Having someone to help teach you the American norms is helpful. Students also need to have
the experience of being with others where they can speak their home language and support
each other in the process of learning the new culture. It is a value to keep one’s language as
you learn English, and keep the language for the children who are born here in immigrant
families who have a different home language.
DAC Book Read: The Girl Who Fell from the Sky – Discussion Notes 11/14/12
20 Attendees.
Introductory Question: What borders do you cross between in daily life or in your
past experience?
Here are some of the borders the group crossed between
 Travelling a lot
 Balancing work and home life
 Taking or teaching interdisciplinary courses—borders between disciplines
 Borders surrounding the academy—returning to higher ed after many years
 Changing neighborhoods—low income to higher income
 Breaking cycles- cycles of poverty, 1st generation college
 Rites and passages of adulthood as a border crossing: marrying, having a kid,
buying a house
 Taking or teaching global or international studies: inventing, reinventing,
destroying borders
 Regional borders: moving from one part of the country to the other
 Changing religions
 Healthy/unhealthy or sick/well is a tenuous border
 Grew up Chinese in the Philippines, then came to US: am I Chinese, Filipino,
or American?
 Transitioned away from US culture living abroad for two years, now
transitioning back to US culture
 Experiences as the only member of one’s racial group in an intimate setting
 Multi-racial families: what are you?/ what am I?
 Mixed-race, multi-religion family background from the US South
 To speak the same language as someone may not mean one can communicate
with them
 Borders imposed by others; borders as a matter of knowing one’s place
 Just graduated college, but also moving back in with parents – in between
borders
 East side of state vs. west side; east side of lake vs. west side local borders
Any connections between this book and crossing borders—characters who cross
borders, places where borders show up
 Rachel—lots of border crossing
o Leaves the South for the Pacific NW
o Biracial character with blue eyes
o Losing her Danish language and heritage—also a foreigner in the US
 Saw a lot of herself in her mom; losing mom initiates her loss of
herself
o About being a foreigner: you start feeling like everyone else, but you
are never treated the same way—frustration
o Would she have had the same questioning or the same issues had she
not sat between foreign/domestic and black/white borders?
o How much of Rachel’s connection to mother is less about race and
more about effects of addiction and alcoholism?
 Swan imagery at end of novel connected to steps of sobriety
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Novel testifies to arbitrariness of boundary between black and white in early
part of novel
Role of sexuality as border between being respectable and not, border
crossing toward adulthood for Rachel
Brick as counterpoint/mirror to Rachel. He is birdwatcher; she is bird. Rachel
comes full circle with Brick.
What does the book have to say about identity and sense of place in our society?
About the effects of external forces on us? About our own abilities to shape our own
experiences?
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Gendered differences between mother figures and father figures and the role
and importance of mothers vs fathers
Gendered differences about promiscuity
o These differences are also generational, not just gendered alone
Grandmother can influence Rachel the most but also may have the least
autonomy of any of the characters—black woman in a primarily white city.
May be subject to most societal pressure. This is also very generational, as
the grandmother’s internalized racism plays a role in how she brings Rachel
up.
o Was Rachel a burden to her grandmother?
Role of Robbie—Rachel tries to save him, but actually he breaks her fall,
saving her instead.
Only people who love Rachel unconditionally are dead.
What does the book teach us about how to be at the college, about how to work with
and learn from each other, about what the institution or college community might
do differently with respect to difference?
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Book is relevant to our lives today—students here asking same questions,
dealing with same issues—race, class, gender, mental illness, addiction.
Think about first impressions—how much do early categorizations stick?
Be more collaborative in our decision-making process
Sit down and listen—ears open
o Praise from students about feeling listened to and heard. Students do
not have to fight to be heard. Instructors and adminstrators seem
responsive.
Avoid stereotypes and pigeonholing students
Expand what counts as diversity when thinking about it. For instance:
addiction as a special demographic group.
Necessity of always having context for decision-making
Think about demands students face—working, children, etc—they are just as
busy as us. How can instructors learn about them, their stories and their
contexts?
There are some obstacles to smooth out just to get students in the door and
into the class—sometimes student services are limited or closed. Hard to
communicate when services are limited or closed. Hard to find locations of
some resources on campus. Women’s Center limited hours mentioned. Better
advertising of when Testing is closed.
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Book Read Discussion 11/29/12
Analysis
The experience about race in Europe is so very different, in the book and in the personal
experience of some in the group. The story about race here doesn’t exist there. The mom in
the book finds the experience of race in the US is so difficult for her that she chooses suicide
and to take her children with her. Nella’s choice to reject oppression so totally as to end their
lives is strikingly tragic.
Our students from other countries, especially Africa, come to the US and are impacted by the
different racial story. Important to remember how they are being hit by these issues for the
first time. Think of the history of the country regarding slavery. Link of this book to Toni
Morrison’s Beloved, where the mother kills her child to prevent her return to slavery.
Theme in book relates to choice versus being hit by outside forces. Brick chooses his name
and new identity after the tragedy. Rachel takes on the role as new girl and sorts out what it
means to be who she is based on the new expectations of her environment.
We are all walking wounded seeking to be made whole. Important to remember that all of
our students are in that same place, so we can make a difference in their lives by how we
treat them. Theme of survival through abuse, addiction, oppression, etc. You can see the
stages of grief in the book with both Rachel and Brick.
Last line – a nod to myth/image of families wishing to fly during slavery.
Recommendations
Reminds us of the challenges our students face as immigrants/refugees dealing with the
issues they deal with adjusting to being in this country. There are so many struggles they
have with their children, an example shared of ESL students leaving class to go deal with their
children getting in trouble in school.
Remember that our students all have such complex stories. How do we help them feel
comfortable expressing different aspects of their identities in our classes?
Recognize the struggle that immigrant parents face in wanting their children to keep
connected to their home culture/language. Difficulty with power dynamics shifting when the
children grow up here and know English better than their parents.
How do we help make the unseen seen? Rachel runs into all these challenges like spiderwebs
hitting her face that she didn’t see.
Don’t assume things about our students or anyone. There are often hidden issues about
families that we don’t see, the pain, difficulties and responsibilities that students deal with.
Some students express some of these things in their writings. Some immigrants have been
educated and professionals in their home country, and they now are treated poorly and
working for minimum wage.
Toni Anderson’s multicultural issues class provided an opportunity for everyone to share
their own stories in bits and pieces over the quarter. It was helpful to see more of the full
person.